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Hello.

I am also a descendant of the Blacks of Breich Water. My 4x great grandmother was Margaret Black, daughter of John Black and Catherine Leckie/Lockie. She was born about 1803 and later married George Hamilton of Lesmahagow, Lanarkshire. The family migrated to Argyll about 1850. Their daughter, Elizabeth Hamilton, married John McMillan in 1856. That couple are my 3x great grandparents. I lived in that same area until immigrating to Canada as a small child with my parents.

Hello,

I have posted before (see above) about my Houston surname puzzle and I am now taking a deeper dive into the mystery to see if I can solve it once and for all.

My 3x great grandmother was born Mary Houston in 1812 or thereabouts. Most records state that she was born at Balquhidder, Perth. In 1832, she married Hugh McGregor of that same place. They had 3 sons there before migrating to Argyll about 1838 and having 9 more children at that place.

I have struggled to find Mary's parents. Her 1893 death registration states that they were James Houston and Mary McPherson. I can find no such couple. Of course, the informant, Mary's son, James McGregor, may have given erroneous information on the registration. I have learned that there were once plenty of Houstons to be found in places like Blackford and Auchterarder, Perth. I think her people probably came from one of these communities.

It is possible too that Mary may have been fostered, raised by relatives, adopted or was illegitimate. I have been looking at men named James Houston born in Perthshire, who would be of age to be Mary's father, which is a wide range I realize, and I found 2 possible candidates.

1. James Houston, born 1771 at Auchterarder to James Houston and Mary Monteith. He would have been about 41 years of age at my Mary Houston's birth. I have not managed to trace his life.

2. James Houston, born 1795 at Blackford to James Houston and Ann McLaren. He would have been a teen, just 17 when my Mary was born. If I have followed the right man, I think he married Mary Philp in 1825.

I am a bit stuck now and wonder if anyone has any information to add that might break down this brick wall. Thanks very much!

Mary

Hello,

This is not the best photo as I took it as the machines were tearing the structure down! The building was built in the late 1860s in southern Ontario, Canada. It was brick and was originally a tea and dry goods store with dwelling space on the second floor.

I am interested in the briefly exposed piece of wallpaper. It is light green in colour with a simple repeated design of perhaps sailboats or maybe a little clump of trees?? What era might this wallpaper have come from? I am writing a local history piece about the early days of the interior design industry.

Thank you!

Mary

Thank you everyone. Might be getting somewhere! I am looking forward, as well as backward. It appears John and Margaret Nugent had 2 daughters, Alice and Nellie. Both married. I see that Alice married Syrel Rudd and had some 7 children, while Nellie married Frank Ennis and appears to have been childless. If what I have found so far is correct, it seems most likely that a descendant of Alice was the keeper of the album. The questions remain: who and why did they have it?